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Judy Gold

Standup comedian Judy Gold won two Daytime Emmys for her work writing and producing the Rosie O’Donnell Show in 1998 and 1999.

Jennie Goldstein was one of the foremost Yiddish theater tragediennes, beloved by the public and acclaimed by critics for her acting skills and outstanding voice. During the 1940s, as opportunities in the Yiddish theater waned, Goldstein transformed herself into a comedian.

Shannie Goldstein

Shannie Goldstein used her creativity to outsmart the KGB, bringing information to and from refuseniks in the Soviet Union.

Beate Sirota Gordon

Through diplomacy and ingenuity, twenty-two-year-old Beate Sirota Gordon wrote unprecedented rights for women into Japan’s post-war constitution.

Dorothy Lerner Gordon

Dorothy Lerner Gordon—musician, broadcaster, author—dedicated her talents to the entertainment and education of children and young people. Throughout her career, she created radio programming to give children access to literature, music, and current events.

Vera Gordon

Although she started acting in Russia at a young age, Vera Gordon initially struggled to build a career in the United States. She went on to a long career on stage and screen, however, known especially for portraying Jewish mothers in a positive light—with warmth and deep emotion.

Lesley Gore

Known for the feminist anthem “You Don’t Own Me,” teenage pop sensation Lesley Gore carefully negotiated which parts of her life the media did and did not own.

Eydie Gorme

One of the great stylists of the American popular song, Eydie Gorme achieved national prominence with her appearances on Steve Allen’s Tonight! show, where she met and performed with her husband Steve Lawrence. Gorme’s dynamic nightclub act, frequently as a duo with Lawrence, drew sell-out crowds keeping true to the best traditions of the American “standard”—traditions she herself helped to establish.

Lynn Gottlieb

One of the first ten women rabbis, Lynn Gottlieb became a voice for peace between Jews and Muslims.

Ellen Greene

While actress Ellen Greene has played a variety of roles, she is best known for her performances as Audrey in both the live and film versions of the cult classic, Little Shop of Horrors.

Gloria Greenfield

Disturbed by growing anti-Semitism in the women’s movement, Gloria Greenfield left the movement and began creating documentary films that brought national attention to anti-Semitism in America and around the world.

Marjorie Guthrie

First a dancer, then a teacher, Marjorie Guthrie founded the Woody Guthrie Children’s Fund and Archive in 1956 to preserve her husband’s works for future audiences. By the end of her life, she was a national activist for Huntington’s Disease and other genetic and neurological diseases.

Maggie Gyllenhaal

Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal has garnered critical acclaim for her performance in difficult roles in 2002’s Secretary, 2009’s Crazy Heart, and 2014’s The Honourable Woman.

Hadassah (Spira Epstein)

Hadassah Spira Epstein was a major dance artist of the twentieth century, a performer of Jewish, Hindu, and other ethnic dance forms, and a leading force in presenting the dance of other cultures to the American public. She was a pioneer in bringing Jewish dance to the United States and was recognized as such in the first U.S. Congress on Jewish Dance held in New York City in 1949.

Ida Haendel

In a life that spanned the greater part of the twentieth century, Ida Haendel was one of the most enduring idols of the concert platform, an inspiration to both performers and music-lovers through her many recordings as well as her live performances and broadcasts. A musical prodigy who began performing at age four, Haendel continued her passionate violin performances into her late eighties.

Nan Halperin

Nan Halperin was known as “The Wonder Girl” for her comic performances and rapid quick changes on the vaudeville stage. Halperin had a highly successful career, making her Broadway debut in 1914 and headlining on Broadway until 1934. She was one of the highest-paid actresses in vaudeville, famous for her “song cycle” performances.

Anna Halprin

Anna Halprin was one of the founders of the American avant-garde in modern dance. Beginning with her work in the late 1950s and early 1960s, she radically expanded ideas of what could constitute a dance, incorporating task and chance activity while also creating one of the first multiracial dance groups and incorporating the aged and terminally ill as subject and dancers in her works.

Chelsea Handler

When her confession in a DUI class left people rolling in the aisles, struggling actress Chelsea Handler launched a brilliant new career as a comedian.

Alyson Hannigan

From her role as an unconventional flautist in American Pie to that of a lesbian witch on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, actress Alyson Hannigan has delighted in turning audience expectations on their heads.

Still from Israeli ultra-Orthodox film Entangled: one woman (right) in focus and woman out of focus behind her standing surrounded by trees

Haredi Women's Filmmaking in Israel

In the early twenty-first century, Haredi cinema began to flourish, first in Israel and then in the United States and elsewhere. Haredi women have made films that focus on relationships among women, that are often much more aesthetically elaborate than Haredi men’s films, and that address issues that until recently were considered taboo.

Renee Harris portrait in Pittsburgh Daily Post, 1913.

Renee Harris

Renee Harris survived tragedy aboard the Titanic to become New York’s first female theater producer. After taking over her husband’s producing career after he died when the ship sank, Harris’s first and most famous production was Damaged Goods, a play about syphilis. During World War I, she sent a troupe of actors to Paris, pioneering the practice of entertaining troops.

Kitty Carlisle Hart

Actress and singer Kitty Carlisle Hart was honored for her tireless crusade for funding for the arts when the New York State Theater in Albany was named after her.

Clara Haskil

Pianist Clara Haskil was one of the greatest performers of her time. As an early prodigy, Haskil began studying music at age six and grew to have an international career, performing throughout the world and appearing at the most prestigious music festivals, in spite of chronic health challenges.

Goldie Hawn

After beginning her career as a dancer, Goldie Hawn won many awards for her critically acclaimed acting performances. She has been one of the most successful women in Hollywood and, since executive producing Private Benjamin in 1980, she has continued to produce films with her own production company.

Melissa Hayden

Melissa Hayden showed unparalleled versatility and range in her ballet dancing during a successful career that spanned decades. Dancing in both the American Ballet Theater and New York City Ballet, Hayden thrilled her audiences with consistently excellent performances in a career that spanned four decades.

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The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women

Performing Arts